Take Your Best Shot: Darren Collison

This article takes a look at the shooting of Darren Collison to examine his most efficient shot to beat NBA defenders.  This is the next installment in our Take Your Best Shot series.

Darren Collison is entering his 3rd year as a member of the Sacramento Kings.  He looks to be the starting point guard, but will likely miss the beginning of the season due to a domestic violence suspension.  I wrote an article about the potential length of Collison’s suspension here if you would care to read more about that topic.

Below is a highlight video of Mister Collison from the 2014-2015 NBA season to remind you what Collison brings to the court.

Now let us take a look at Collison’s shooting skills to see where he launches his best shot from.

Collison’s Best Shot

Let us examine Collison’s career shot courtesy of NBASavant to get a look at where Collison is successful shooting the ball.

As you can see, Collison is dominant from three areas on the floor.  Collison shoots 4.7% better than league average from the mid-range, 6.4% better than league average on right corner 3’s, and 8.0% better than league average on left corner 3’s.  Those are all impressive numbers and underscores Collison’s ability to be an offensive force if he attacks the areas where he thrives.  Let us look into some different numbers to further evaluate his offensive game.

The corner 3 point shot is clearly is Collison’s most efficient attempt.  According to Basketball-Reference, Collison is a 46.5% career corner 3 points shooter.  Most players can only dream of shooting 46.5% from the field and Collison shots that from 3 corner point land.

Summary

Darren Collison should be the Kings starting point guard this season.  Collison’s shooting hovers around or is better than league average from every spot on the floor.  He finds his greatest efficiency shooting corner 3 pointers.

Next: Get to Know the All-In-One Sacramento Kings App

The Kings need to find ways to get Collison open in the corners to really take advantage of his strength.  He only shoots 30.5% of his 3’s from the corner in his career according to Basketball-Reference.  The Kings need to draw up sets to get Collison free in the corner and let him fire away.  That should allow the offense to open up and lead Sacramento to be a high-scoring offense this season.